Computers and hardware

Verizon does not currently offer service for any Apple devices, but a new report suggests it might be at least testing one out.

The Boy Genius Report blog reported Wednesday that according to one of its "highly placed sources," Verizon is testing the iPad on its network.

"We have been told that the model they are testing is a CDMA-compatible device, and while our source mentioned LTE in some capacity (possibly another model), we haven't been able to independently confirm that part of it," the BGR report says.

A Verizon spokesman said the company had … Read more

We still don't know if the Dell Streak is a tablet or a smartphone, and the new pricing for the device may confuse matters even further.

Dell's touch-screen tablet will go on sale Friday in the U.K. at retailer The Carphone Warehouse for 429 British pounds, or $630. But if you opt to buy it with a monthly data plan, you can get the Android device for free, the retailer announced Tuesday.

The lowest plan is 25 British pounds--or about $37--per month for mobile broadband access. You can also pay 35 British pounds ($51) per month and … Read more

Under its Foxconn brand, Hon Hai Precision Industries makes gadgets to order for the biggest name in electronics. And in light of the increasing number of employee suicide attempts and media attention, some of those clients are beginning to speak publicly about the problem.

On Friday, one of the most recognizable names in electronics, Sony, and the largest mobile-phone company in the world, Nokia, say they're looking into what's happening at the Foxconn factories in China, according to Agence France Presse.

"In response to recent reports, Sony has begun taking steps to re-evaluate the working environment at … Read more

Pop quiz: Which one is the true tablet? Apple iPad, JooJoo, Dell Streak, or HP Slate?

If you guessed any of them you're right. Or you're wrong. Because the answer seems to depend on whom you ask.

The tablet category is heating up lately. IDC expects more than 7 million tablets to ship by the end of the year and more than 46 million units to ship by 2014. That is in large part due to the success of Apple's iPad, which has flown off store shelves since its introduction in April. Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Asus, Fuijtsu, Acer, Archos, and many others have also flocked to the the decidedly gray area that tablets occupy between a smartphone and notebook.

Perhaps because the category is new, the definition of "tablet" seems sort of up for grabs, depending on who is defining it. Size, features, and specifications are the traditional way of breaking down consumer electronics and PC categories, but the few products currently for sale or coming soon are blurring those lines.

We take a crack at dampening some of the confusion around the latest crop of consumer tablets. (For a complete list of tablets, see the guide put together by CNET's Donald Bell.)

What makes a tablet a tablet? Traditionally the categories of mobile computing devices break down in terms of size: smartphones have 3- to 5-inch screens, MIDs (mobile Internet devices) range between 5 and 7 inches, and tablets are between 7 and 10 inches.

But the feature set, or what the device can do, is the other half of the equation. According to Gartner, a true tablet is any slate over 5 inches running a full operating system like Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.

IDC breaks the devices down into media tablets and tablet PCs. A tablet PC has an x86 processor, runs a desktop OS, and has a screen size anywhere from 5 inches to 21 inches. Despite what it may look like, "A tablet PC is a PC," said Richard Shim, IDC analyst. "There's no real limit to them."

These are generally the traditional idea of a tablet, the kind that look like a laptop with a screen that twists that you can close and write on with a stylus, like the Dell Latitude XT or the Asus Eee PC T91.

"A media tablet we're defining as ARM-based, running a smaller OS (non-Windows)," he said. "The screen sizes are between 7 and 12 inches." ARM is a type of low-power processor typically used in mobile devices, whereas x86 processors are used in more robust applications where power consumption isn't as much of an issue.

How do the current crop of tablets compare? There's a pretty big range in IDC's and Gartner's definitions if you compare the features of a few of the recently announced or released tablets intended for consumer use.… Read more

Acer says it has a tablet in the works, but it won't be ready for several months.

At an event in Beijing Thursday, Acer Chairman and CEO Gianfranco Lanci demonstrated a few forthcoming Acer gadgets including a tablet running Android, according to reports. The details on the tablet are few so far: it has a 7-inch screen and appears to have a physical keyboard similar to Amazon's Kindle.

Lanci did not announce a price, but said it would go on sale sometime between October and December. There could also be the option of 3G service: Lanci made a … Read more

The approaching summer needs to be a blockbuster one for Sony.

Once the star of the consumer electronics business, the company has had a lot of catching up to do lately. But it could make up some significant ground if two of its big initiatives for the summer, 3D TV and its new Google TV-based Sony Internet TV, grab the attention of consumers.

The company has struggled with its core business, the TV, the past few years. Once the most influential in the area, the company has lost market share to Samsung, and has been lapped on bringing some new … Read more

Last year was one of the most discouraging for PC makers as consumers hit hard by the recession started pinching their pennies.

But 2010 saw a big reversal of last year's decline: Gartner released data on Tuesday that showed mobile PCs grew to just under 50 million units during the first quarter of 2010. That's an increase of 43.4 percent from the same quarter a year ago, good enough to be the best quarter for mobile PC makers in eight years.

The success of the category is in line with what Intel reported last month. Its profits … Read more

Finally, we have solid details on Dell's tablet.

After a vague press conference announcing the device at CES in January, followed by months of leaked details, we now have almost the full story on what is officially called the Streak.

As previously stated by Dell, it's a 5-inch touch screen tablet that will run the Android operating system. On Tuesday, Dell said that the tablet will later be upgraded to Android version 2.2, just announced at Google I/O. The device comes with an ARM-based Snapdragon chipset and 1GHz processor, 2GB of storage (expandable to 32GB with … Read more

With Army Gen. Keith Alexander named as its first commander, U.S. Cyber Command has a challenging mission and Alexander a demanding job.

Receiving a promotion to four-star general, Alexander on Friday was officially given the reins of U.S. Cyber Command by Defense Secretary Robert Gates during a ceremony in Fort Meade, Md. That signaled the initial launch of the division, which won't be up to full capability until October 1.

The mission of U.S. Cyber Command, or CyberCom, is to synchronize the Defense Department's various networks and cyberspace operations to better defend them against the … Read more